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Rachael Heyhoe Flint
| female = true | country = England | fullname = Rachael Heyhoe Flint | birth_date = | death_date = | birth_place = Wolverhampton, England | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right arm leg spin | role = Batswoman | international = true | testdebutdate = 2 December | testdebutyear = 1960 | testdebutagainst = South Africa | testcap = 51 | lasttestdate = 1 July | lasttestyear = 1979 | lasttestagainst = West Indies | odidebutdate = 23 June | odidebutyear = 1973 | odidebutagainst = International XI | odicap = 4 | lastodidate = 7 February | lastodiyear = 1982 | lastodiagainst = Australia | club1 = West Midlands Women | year1 = 1980–1982 | deliveries = balls | columns = 2 | column1 = WTests | matches1 = 22 | runs1 = 1594 | bat avg1 = 45.54 | 100s/50s1 = 3/10 | top score1 = 179 | deliveries1 = 402 | wickets1 = 3 | bowl avg1 = 68.00 | fivefor1 = – | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = 1/3 | catches/stumpings1 = 13/– | column2 = WODI | matches2 = 23 | runs2 = 643 | bat avg2 = 58.45 | 100s/50s2 = 1/4 | top score2 = 114 | deliveries2 = 18 | wickets2 = 1 | bowl avg2 = 20.00 | fivefor2 = – | tenfor2 = – | best bowling2 = 1/13 | catches/stumpings2 = 6/– | date = 29 December | year = 2007 | source = http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/53887.html Cricinfo}} Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, (11 June 1939 – 18 January 2017) was an English cricketer, businesswoman and philanthropist. She was best known for being captain of England from 1966 to 1978, and was unbeaten in six Test series, while in total she played for the English women's cricket team from 1960 to 1982. Heyhoe Flint was captain when her team won the inaugural 1973 Women's Cricket World Cup, which England hosted. She was also the first female cricketer to hit a six in a Test match. Cricket career Heyhoe Flint was chiefly a batsman. She played in 22 Women's Test cricket matches, with a batting average of 45.54 in 38 innings. She scored three Test centuries, including her highest score of 179, a world record when she scored it against Australia at the Oval in 1976, earning a draw to save the series by batting for more than 8½ hours. She was captain of the first England women's team to play at Lord's in the 1976 Women's Ashes series. She also hit the first six in a women's Test match in 1963, also at the Oval against Australia. After being replaced as England captain in 1978, she played her last Test match in the 1979 series against West Indies, but went on to play in the 1982 Women's Cricket World Cup. Other sport Outside cricket, she played as goalkeeper for the England national field hockey team in 1964 and was a single-figure handicap golfer. Post-cricket career After retiring from cricket, Heyhoe Flint worked as a journalist, broadcaster (in 1973 she was appointed TV’s first woman sports presenter with ITV’s World of Sport), award-winning after-dinner speaker, businesswoman and board director. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1972, and was one of the first ten women admitted to the MCC in 1999, as an honorary life member. In 2004, she was the first woman elected to the full committee of the MCC and latterly became a Trustee. She was made a director of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. in 1997, later becoming an ex officio Vice President. She was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands in 1997, and was President of the Lady Taverners charity from 2001 to 2011. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours, Radley and Heyhoe-Flint honoured, Cricinfo. Retrieved 29 December 2007 and in October 2010 was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, the first woman to achieve this accolade.BBC report on ICC awards, BBC. Retrieved 6 October 2010 In April 2011, Heyhoe-Flint was granted the freedom of Wolverhampton. On 19 November 2010, it was announced that she was to be ennobled to sit in the House of Lords as a Conservative Party peer.http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/latest-news/2010/11/peerages-honours-and-appointments-2-57256, Downing Street, Downing Street Formal Announcement 19 November 2010 "I was completely taken by surprise when I took the call from the Prime Minister in September," Heyhoe Flint said. "Obviously I am really thrilled at my appointment but still very humbled at the thought of joining such an historic institution ... My background in sport, journalism, charity and community work will I hope stand me in good stead, and I hope I can make a positive contribution as a working peer. I will certainly look forward to the commute from one Lord's to another Lords." She was subsequently invested as a life peer on 21 January 2011 taking the title Baroness Heyhoe Flint, of Wolverhampton in the County of West Midlands. Personal life Heyhoe Flint was educated at Wolverhampton Girls' High School. She was the wife of Derrick Flint (born 14 June 1924), who had a first-class cricket career comprising 10 matches for Warwickshire in 1948–49 playing as a leg-spin and googly bowler. Heyhoe Flint has a son, Ben, who also played cricket but emigrated to Singapore in 2001 where he runs businesses related to sports and entertainment. She was also stepmother to Derrick Flint's children: Simon, Hazel and Rowan Flint.Rachael Heyhoe Flint; CricketArchive.com; accessed 20 March 2014. Death Her death was announced by Lord's on 18 January 2017. Bibliography With Netta Rheinberg, she co-authored a history of women's cricket: Fair Play: The Story of Women's Cricket, Angus & Robertson, 1976, (ISBN 978-0-207-95698-0). She also wrote an instructional guide to field hockey called, Rachael Heyhoe Flint: Field Hockey with Barron's Sports Books (ISBN 9780812051582) in 1978. She authored her autobiography Heyhoe (ISBN 9780720710496) in 1978, published by Pelham Books with a foreword from comedian and cricket-lover Eric Morecambe. See also * List of residents of Wolverhampton References External links *Player profile from Cricinfo *Biography from 2002 on her honorary doctorate from University of Bradford *MCC delivers first 10 maidens (BBC News, 16 March 1999) *July 1969 appearance as the 'castaway' on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs Category:1939 births Category:Field hockey goalkeepers